Recent Publications

 Some recent publications are worth noting here at Wormwoodiana.  First is issue no. 17 of Chris Mikul's long-running Bizarrism.  It contains some six articles, of varying lengths, and three book reviews. The longest article, on "The Ghost of Harry Price", clocks in at twelve pages is is highly interesting, giving a good chapter-sized perspective on the famous ghost-hunter, and it includes coverage of Robert Aickman's interactions with Price. One of books reviewed is Edward Parnell's Ghostland.  Information and orders go to Chris Mikul:  chris.mikul88 <at> gmail <dot> com. 

Kevin Dodd has published a long-in-the-works book on the pre-Dracula evolution of the vampire in the nineteenth century. The title is a bit general, The Tale of the Living Vampyre: New Directions in Vampire Studies. The book contains eleven chapters, including one each covering male homosexual vampires (as found in Count Stenbock), and lesbian vampires (like Le Fanu's Carmilla).  Dodd has also recently published part 1 (of 2) of "Plot Variations in the Nineteenth-Century Story of Lord Ruthven"--in the new Journal of Vampire Studies, edited by Anthony Hogg, which includes a number of other highly interesting articles (including two on Montague Summers). 

And there is John D. Haefele's tome (at 762 pages), another long-in-process study which I'm still working my way through: Lovecraft: The Great Tales. Haefele in turn works his way through Lovecraft's oeuvre, giving new ideas about influences and interpretations. This is all the more welcome as the Lovecraft field has been dominated for too long by a small number of critical voices. Haefele offers different ways of looking at familiar texts, and some are quite illuminating.

Finally, a note on the passing of Alistair Durie (1944-2021), who published only one book himself--the omnibus of cover art in the eponymously-named Weird Tales (1979), but who was widely-known to pulp and fanzine collectors, both for his legendary collection and for his generous assistance given to many researchers in the field (myself included). He will be missed.